On Freaks and Fallen Angels: O'Connorian Ethics in Kevin Smith's Dogma

The more that I think about it, the more Dogma (2000) does seem to have elements of O'Connor in it, not just in its discussion of the Watchers and their fall from heaven and attempts to overthrow the power of heaven, but also in the presentation of freaks, or individuals who possess characteristics that leave them somewhat alienated from mainstream society. 

Catholicism Wow, then, as parodic as it may seem within the course of the movie, remains, at its core, the attempts of mainstream religion to reach the outsiders, to become more accessible and less "hokey." This is, in a sense, Vatican III, and it allows not only lapsed Catholics (much like Hazel Motes' first disciple) to return to their faith and belief in Christ, but it also offers salvation to those who are believed eternally damned. 

This becomes a problem, then, within the course of Dogma, as the papacy's desire to be more available has created a loophole in dogmatic law that would allow the world to be destroyed; the flaw lies not in a cosmic fallacy, but in the church's desire to redeem even those beyond salvation. 

The church's desire to overwrite God's law becomes their mistake, as even the Watchers are offered forgiveness, when they were judged as being beyond mercy. Dogma, like Wise Blood, ends in a second judgement of the Watchers, and this time, God is merciful (this is, I'm sure, due to the contrast in ideology of the New and Old Testament), and allows an end to the torment of select immortals (Bartleby and Loki in Dogma and Haze Motes in Wise Blood).